Best. Day. Ever- February 2, 2014

I was looking forward to Sunday more than anything else in the world for the past few weeks, and especially last week.

Sunday, as I made a bit too obvious, was my 19th birthday, and I wanted to do something new, fun, exciting, and as an escape from the mundane stressful world of college. So, I asked my parents for a Disneyland trip on the day of my birthday. They agreed!!! So that was my birthday present :)

The next trick was getting people to go with me. Corona's birthday is the same day as mine, so she was in. After a lot of searching, Corona found a friend in band with her who was willing and wanting to go. Her name is Emma. Also, Corona's parents insisted on driving us there and back, so we had transportation.

And with that, we went to Disneyland!!!

I woke up Sunday morning feeling more excited that we were going than I was cognizant of the day actually being my birthday. I don't know if you've ever gone to Disneyland with me though. If you have, you know exactly what I was like. If you haven't, I'll give you an idea:

Imagine a puppy, about 10 weeks old, who has been home alone for an afternoon for only the second time ever. All of a sudden, it hears the garage door open and knows that it's loved ones are finally home to love it.
Now put that feeling and that imagery into your mind, and you have me.

I was up and ready in a flash, and got to breakfast before either of the two girls. Luckily, I saw Thomas and Annelle there, so I got to talk with them for a bit before I met up with Corona and Emma! I miss those two- I don't get to see them a lot this semester.

Anyways, Corona's parents piled us in the car and we were off!!! It was only a half hour drive, which was awesome :)

We got dropped off at Downtown Disney, and made our way directly to the entrance gate. Unfortunately, it was much more crowded than we had anticipated and hoped for. But, as I said way too many times throughout the day, "That's okay." Whenever something wasn't quite right, that was my reaction: "That's okay." I'm glad I do that.

And we were in!!!

The first thing we did, upon my request, was go to Town hall and pick up birthday pins!!! Corona and I each got one with our names on them, and they proved to be very handy for the rest of the day. :) I decided not to get my age on mine, so I can rewear it when it's my birthday in the future, even if I'm not at Disneyland :)

I finally have a birthday pin!!!

What's the best first ride to start out your Disney day?

Space Mountain. Duh.

 The line for Space Mountain was already pretty long. We didn't get to the park until around 9:45, anyways, plus the park was crowded, as I mentioned. So we waited a good 40 minutes or so for the ride. It gave us a chance to talk, and be excited, and be sung to by a group of kids in front of us in line! So that was fun! As we got closer, we were standing in an area where the welcoming and information speech was repeated quite a few times....for quite a while. So, we memorized it, phrase by phrase.

"Welcome, Space Travelers. Space Mountain is a high-speed, thrilling, turbulent, roller-coaster type ride that includes sharp turns, sudden drops, and stops. Before you embark on your adventure, please place all hats, glasses, and loose possessions inside the storage pouch located directly in front of you. To prepare for launch, pull the black bar toward you. You are now ready for your intergalactic adventure. Thank you, and have a great flight."

Girls, correct me if I got something wrong. ;)
It was so worth the wait though. Plus, front row!!!

 The other Tomorrowland rides were pretty long, so we cruised through Fantasyland on our way to Frontierland/Adventureland to see what else we could see.

But don't forget castle pictures!!

Classic!!

In Fantasyland, I told the girls about the golden
spike that used to be Disneyland's center. So, classic
spike picture was necessary :)

We ended up being just in time for the Mark Twain Riverboat! So we rode that for a relaxing ride around the Rivers of America!

And took plenty of pictures with this life raft...thing
It has a name. What is its name?

Then it was Haunted Mansion time.

Yeah, the line was only a tad nuts.

I love the Haunted Mansion. It makes me really happy, even though it's supposed to scare you. I don't know... I guess I just find the whole thing absolutely beautiful and fascinating. I love those types of rides that contain all that detail and creativity and pull it off wonderfully, you know?

Also, we got stuck in the bride room for a bit, which was actually fun! I finally remembered the bride's name though- Constance. Constance and her late husband...Reginald?  I don't quite remember his name. But oh well... "Til death do us part...." as Constance would say...

We got lunch after that in Critter Country

Pretty view!

Emma really wanted to meet Winnie the Pooh, so we went looking for him! We got super lucky- we saw Eeyore leave and got to wait in line for Pooh! We were the oldest kids in line... but hey. He was so huggable and adorable that it was totally worth it.

Emma's best day ever!

He's so huggable!!!

Then, another Disney classic.

Dead men tell no tales. 

Pre-ride pictures!

A lady with an adorable baby took this for us. I think she found
us pretty amusing during the whole wait!

Birthday girl!!!

Band buddies <3

 I learned a lot about myself during the wait for Pirates. Mostly, that Disneyland is my absolute playground. I just go nuts with having fun and taking risks and just being hyperactive just for the heck of it. I had facts to spew out, I was energetic, I sang "Do you Want to Build a Snowman?" after knocking on the door that you pass by in line both inside and outside. (When we passed it inside, the girls sang with me! I hope the people outside heard us). Oh, and everyone in line heard me do this! I whistled at the parrot (but I always do that), and... I don't know! I just had fun!!! It's fun to have fun and have nobody care if you're having fun!

Also, about Pirates: I love the smell and the feel of that ride. It's got an old, crusty, chlorine smell to it, but there's nothing like it. It just fits the entire atmosphere perfectly. The effects are nostalgically beautiful. I notice something new every time I ride it. I just love it! It's a classic for a reason, I guess! :)

I had Corona pose with a hat at the gift shop afterwards

After Pirates, we did something new that I've never done in the park before!!! We went on the canoes and canoed around the Rivers of America!!

Corona really wanted to do it, and it did look pretty fun, so we tried it out. I liked it a lot! It's like the Jungle Cruise, but you're doing a lot more rowing than you are watching. Our guides were great though. One of them even gave me encouraging words on working for Disneyland someday <3

Also, we saw Corona's dad! Turns out that her parents were spending a nice day at the park themselves!

When we left through Adventureland afterwards, we were about to go into Fantasyland again when I saw something I've been wanting to see for ages- a green cap with a red feather sticking out of it.

All three of us raced to try to catch Peter and Hook, but they went backstage and we missed them... :( On the bright side, that put us in line to meet the Hatter and Alice, which I've always wanted to do!!!

I just missed them singing "Let it Go" here. They were both pretty hyped about "Frozen!"

We also saw Merida and Snow White and a band as we waited! I called to Merida, "Hey Merida! Can you teach me how to do a Scottish accent?" She called back, "Come to Scotland and visit me!!" Will do, princess. Will do.

When it was our turn to meet the Wonderland duo, I was first. I told them I was excited to meet them, since I've always wanted to. They liked that. Alice grabbed my hand, looked at my nails, and then started singing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" at the Hatter. They had a little banter about Frozen. He asked her, "Why do you keep singing that?!?" and she replied, "Because she has Anna nails!"

It's true! I painted my nails after Anna's dress, from Frozen. I'm so surprised Alice actually recognized them! So that was a fun interaction we had!

Then the Hatter asked if it was actually my birthday. I said, yes, it was, and that it was a shame I wasn't meeting him on my unbirthday. Isn't that ironic though?!? So he said he'd sing me a song, so I dragged Corona over and told him it was her birthday too. So he sang the following for both of us:

I love these two. Definitely recommend meeting them, for anyone going to Disneyland.

Emma got her own picture!

 We were told Peter would be back out in a half hour or so, so we made our way back into Fantasyland. I stopped to sing into Snow White's wishing well first. I know the well song, and the well was singing the echo of the song if you listened enough, so I sang Snow's part. She was actually meeting guests right nearby, and there were a few other people looking into the well as I sang. Corona and Emma say I impressed them. I wonder what Snow White thought! But she was busy with other people.

See? This is what I mean! I was just having fun!!! But at least it was entertaining

 By the way, it was possible to meet Elsa and Anna, but the line was REALLY long. It was basically a two hour wait, which was so definitely not worth it. Maybe next time...

I do regret not getting to interact with the
Olaf animatronic though

Carousel time!

Hang on!!!

Carouselfie!

After that ride, we took a shot at the Sword
in the Stone!

 Since we were still just chilling at that point, we decided to head over to the Teacups and make ourselves super dizzy. Woohoo!

And ok: Here comes the sad part of the day.

We were waiting in line, and Peter Pan ran by. I went to the edge of the line and called, "Hey, Peter! Where are you going?"

He stopped and said, "That way!!"

"How long will you be there??"

"I can't promise for long! Come and find me!"

And that was the most interaction I've ever had with him, and the most I'll have until next time. 

I will find you, Peter... I will... :( Oh Peter... 

We did try to hunt him down after the teacups, but gave up and went back to Adventureland to check on the Indiana Jones wait time. It was awful, so here's some awesome pictures from the Tarzan treehouse!

It's Mrs. Potts and Chip!!!!

 Not even Aladdin was here today :( I miss my handsome prince.

By this point, we were all a little on a character streak. The parade was just starting, but I had a really good hunch about the princess wait time... Boom. 30 minutes. Best it probably was all day, so we all decided to wait.

This is the first time I'd been inside to meet the princesses at their new little corner in front of the castle!

But I got to wear the character host's hat

It was sparkly. I told him he looked nice
in it.

 The Character hosts were really cool!!

First up was Princess Aurora!!! Holy cow, was she absolutely beautiful. She wasn't too high energy, and we didn't know a whole lot to say (even though we'd picked out questions beforehand), but it was still really neat!! She's my second favorite princesses. And did I mention how gorgeous she was? Wow!!!

I didn't do all the talking, I promise. I did ask her about her
birthday cake though, since we were talking about birthdays!

Remember how I said the Character hosts were really awesome?

They were really, really awesome :) (she had my phone to take pictures of course!)

Next was Ariel. I was a little worried about Ariel, because when I've met her before, I've never really liked her too much. But today, she was INCREDIBLE. Beautiful, totally the character, super bubbly, and we suspect she's been to the USC kingdom a couple of times... Emma was wearing a USC shirt, and Ariel pointed it out!

We had a long, lovely talk with her! We decided to ask her for advice on finding a prince and also what she likes most and least about Prince Eric. She doesn't like that he gets to sleep longer than her, but she loves when he does sweet things for her.

By the way, she was so excited about our conversation, she brought in her friend Cinderella to join us!

So we talked with BOTH AT THE SAME TIME! And they were both adorable and sweet and wonderful!!!

Nope. Not fangirling at all. 

Ok, maybe a little.

I love them so much. Can I PLEASE be a princess
already?!?

I think the Character host with my phone was a tad bored
with how long the conversation was!

But I LOVE the selfless all the same!

Cinderella went back in her own room, and we took a picture with just Ariel.

 I love Ariel.

Well, we then got to talk with just Cinderella. After talking with her and Ariel though, it was a breeze.

I was telling her a story here!

We talked about Princes, glass slippers, our
day at the park, her stepsisters... it was
wonderful

We also agreed that Prince Charming should
try something new with his hair sometime. He
always parts it the same way. Cinderella suggested
gel and a little spike. We agreed, and said it would
be nice and modern!

Cinderella, can I just be you?

So, yes. I am even more encouraged in my love of Disney princesses. They are the best ever and I want to be one.

Also, we saw Belle from a distance

 We all really wanted to ride Dumbo, so we waited in quite a long line for him as we made a game plan for what we wanted to do with the rest of our day.

Magic feather!!

Birthday girl Dumbo!!!

Also, this place is gorgeous

Dumbo was our last ride before dinner. Corona's parents wanted to have dinner with us, and insisted we meet up with them on Main Street so we could go eat somewhere.

Beautiful.

 We thought that we'd end up eating outside the park, in Downtown Disney, but instead we found a nice little cafe right on Main Street! We got seated outside too, so we had a lovely view of the parade

 The food was great, and our waiter was really nice! Corona's parents surprised us with cupcakes and candles!!!

Yes, I'd already taken a bite... whoops. Isn't it pretty?
The sprinkles are Mickey shaped too!! 

 The cafe also brought us ice cream, since they weren't anticipating us having cupcakes.

 Alright. Here's where more adventure starts.
As we were finishing eating, it started to sprinkle outside. This went away really quickly, although it made outside a lot colder. We headed off to Indiana Jones, at last, and looked forward to the queue inside. Brrr!
What was funny was as we were walking towards Adventureland, there was a flood of people headed out to leave the park. Haha!! The rain is a bit much for people, I suppose! That or there was something else happening. Maybe they wanted to go to World of Color or something. Who knows?

But Indy was really fun :)

This rock fit a hand grip perfectly

Do not look in the eyes of the idol!!!

 We tried to spot the Eeyore in the movie room, but the Cast Member didn't have a flashlight. She did our best to point it out to us, and we think we saw it... we hope we did at least!

The ride itself is awesome. One of my favorites!!!!
Corona had been wanting to ride Autopia all day, so we scooted around the crowd waiting for the fireworks and  headed to Tomorrowland next

Beautiful <3

 I haven't been on Autopia in a while, but man is it fun!!! Corona took her own car, and Emma drove a second one with me as a passenger. Halfway through, we decided to have me work the gas while she worked the steering wheel. I had a bit too much fun!! It was really fun though, and absolutely hilarious!!
Not to mention that the fireworks started while we were on the course, and we could both see and hear them all. Have you ever driven around Tomorrowland at night with the fireworks exploding above you while you laugh your head off? Awesomeness. Pure awesomeness.

Star Tours time!

I love R2D2!!!! 

Star Tourz fo Dayz. #swag

 I was the rebel spy!!!!!! It was awesome!!!! A light went up on me when my picture came up. The Storm troopers approached us first, then we went to the Wookie country, and then Yoda spoke to both us and RIGHT TO ME. Yoda. I love Yoda.
The second place it took us was some sort of star battle field and the city in Episode 2 that I don't know the name of... Any Star Wars fans want to help me out there?

When we got out of Star Tours, the rain had come back HARD! It really started pouring!!! We only had time for one more ride, so we thought it would be fun to try going on the Matterhorn, especially during the rain!!!

We raced through the rain to the ride, only to discover that it was closed because of the weather. Drats.
So back to Tomorrowland we went, for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters!!

Happy! But wet from the rain...

By this time, we were approaching our curfew for meeting up with Corona's parents again. On our way back to Main Street, I took a video on accident (EDIT: There's been uploading errors. I'll keep trying to get it up)

Seriously though. I love this place so much. I cannot wait to work here someday.

I ran into a Main Street store and bought myself a new lanyard for my keys, as well as a princess pen. Then it was time to go :(

Oh Disneyland, how I'll miss you

 We left the park around 9:45/10ish, and I really wished we could have stayed for much longer. That is, until we got back to USC. Then it hit me how absolutely exhausted I actually was. It also hit me... today was my birthday. It almost hadn't felt like my birthday, even though I was wished happy birthday several times, got cake, got sung to, and got to celebrate.

In my opinion, it was a great way to celebrate. I got to go to a place I love, make new friends, and altogether, just be happy to be alive. That's what your birthday's all about, to me. You made it another year, yes, but that's no small feat. Being alive is a wonderful thing, and I think it's something to celebrate.

When we got back to school, I got hugs from all the girls on the floor, a wonderfully hot and lovely shower, and quite a few lovely messages from my Facebook friends as I was wrapped up cozy in a warm, soft blanket. Then I got to read my book. *sigh* Perfect.

I think Rapunzel sums the experience up pretty well:

Well, here goes being 19!! Fight on, friends. I love you all <3